YouTube to Acquire Videogame-Streaming Service Twitch for $1 Billion: Sources

Deal would be biggest ever for Google-owned YouTube

Google’s YouTube has reached a preliminary deal to buy Twitch, a popular videogame-streaming company, for more than $1 billion, according to sources familiar with the pact.

The deal, in an all-cash offer, is expected to be announced imminently, sources said. If completed the acquisition would be the most significant in the history of YouTube, which Google acquired in 2006 for $1.65 billion. The impending acquisition comes after longtime Google ad exec Susan Wojcicki was named CEO of YouTube earlier this year.

San Francisco-based Twitch lets users upload and watch free, live gameplay videos that can be streamed from Microsoft Xbox One and Sony PlayStation 4 consoles, and also sells a $9 monthly ad-free subscription and subscriptions to individual channels for about $5 per month. The company claims to have more than 45 million monthly users, with more than 1 million members who upload videos each month. It also has deals to distribute shows from partners including CBS Interactive’s GameSpot, Joystiq and Destructoid.

YouTube is preparing for U.S. regulators to challenge the Twitch deal, according to sources. YouTube is far and away the No. 1 platform for Internet video, serving more than 6 billion hours of video per month to 1 billion users worldwide, and the company expects the Justice Department to take a hard look at whether buying Twitch raises anticompetitive issues in the online-video market.

Twitch was launched in June 2011 by Justin Kan and Emmett Shear, co-founders of Justin.tv, one of the first websites to host livestreaming user-generated video. Shear currently serves as CEO of Twitch.

Founded in 2011, the startup has raised about $35 million in funding. Investors include Bessemer Venture Partners, Alsop Louie Partners, WestSummit Capital, Take-Two Interactive Software, Thrive Capital and Draper Associates. Twitch Interactive, which includes Justin.tv, has about 130 employees.

Gameplay videos already are a highly popular category on YouTube. Twitch also plays in the separate “e-sports” market covering live professional gaming competitions; others in that space include tournament organizer Major League Gaming, a New York-based company whose investors include Oak Investment Partners and Relativity Media CEO Ryan Kavanaugh.

a semi forgotten entity in this is justin.tv as it is owned by twitch interactive once the shining star of live broadcasting sadly reduced to a pale imitation of its former self, recently justin has been on the downslope badly many of its features are being removed as the staff were unable to fix it while i wish twitch every success its the death knell for justin and rumours are justin staff are being offered jobs on twitch in preparation cant imagine how much damage that lot will do to twitch like they did on jtv so if being tied to google doesnt harm them im sure bad coding will

I’m calling bullshit on this. One, it has not been confirmed by either company. Two, every new article that mentions this “merger” cites this article as it’s source. And three, this cite won’t cite it’s own source. I’m fairly confident this is a rumor. If it isn’t, then from what I’ve heard from many streamers on Twitch there will be a mass exodus from the platform

They will get on doing a monopoly, then they will shutdown what they’ve bought with the excuse that the revenue wasn’t enough, while it actually was. Then youtube will be the only good website standing and everything else would’ve merged into Youtube.

Except, google will ruin twitch, Comcast didn’t ruin anything, because they are good at what they do, AT&T was allowed to because there good at what they do, google will ruin twitch, because there good at ruining previously good sites, just look at youtube

So they can go deleting everyone on copyright infringement allegations? All I see Google doing is buying Twitch, changing its interface 5 or 6 times, run everyone away, shutting Streamers down, and closing the site entirely by 2015

I hate what Google did to YouTube, I hate the redesigned layouts they put out. Yes, I’m whining, back around 2011/2012 I was getting used to everything, now I can’t find the damned inbox link without drudging through the hellhole useless Google+ they think is the second coming of Raptor Jesus.

You watch, Google will ruin Twitch, better enjoy it before they crash it into the ground.

Wow, this is the worst rumored news I’ve heard in a long time. I am a huge fan of Twitch, but I do not like the direction YouTube has gone in lately–particularly with the Google Plus integration. As a user of both services, I hope Google keeps its hands off of Twitch and stops trying to take over everything just to screw it up. I don’t think any challenge is going to be successful. If Time Warner and Comcast can merge, there are no limits anymore. The only thing I can hope for is the deal going south.

worst thing that could ever happen! Google is becoming like a disease… First they ruined Youtube and now they are after TwitchTV. -__-

Incoming:

-30fps cap
-Content ID
-Paranoid censorship, blocking random videos and harassing uploaders without any evidence of wrong doing, because some troll thought it would be funny to report ownership when there is none. Then flat refusal to actually verify it.
-Busted comment system that half the time won’t let you post at all, the other half not being able to tell the difference between spam and legit comments. Troll spam reports instantly hiding posts, again without any moderation/verification, and no way to reverse it.

Oh yay! Now we can look forward to the layout of the site changing every 6 months for no good reason. I’m also super psyched to get all my videos flagged without warning! Let’s not forget Google+ integration, because I love it when a company forces me to use a social network I have no interest in being a part of because it’s in their agenda! Google has some of the most pretentious, smug people working for them, acting as if everything they do is god’s gift to the internet.

I know right? Someone could have easily mocked up a photo or conversation and then sent it to this website. Every single other website has used Variety as a source. Twitch Staff have already said ‘We don’t comment on rumors’, I’m almost certain it’s bullshit.

CONGRATS! Google/YouTube on picking up another Spy network to monitor the Youth! how much sooner till your done with the RFID chip to implant? Mark of the Beast technology. Obviously nobody there is a christian. God Help Us!

Reblogged this on that one ginger and commented:
I just have one big question … Why? YouTube is a company with a completely separate style of service in mind from what Twitch offers. It just doesn’t make sense to me that this would be a beneficial move for YouTube.

I think this has potential to actually be a good thing, as long as there aren’t youtube type or bureaucratic issues, particularly copyright issues. Hopefully twitch would still function as it does now, but more integrated with google and youtube, with the same people running it. Also, I don’t think this would contribute overly to anti competition, in part because I don’t think twitch and youtube really compete with each other.

They will most likely bring over the ContentID system. RIP Everything. Music from a game? Boom ContentID Take Down. They will probably take down the Admin Team that contains members of Twitch Staff friends and members from the same community for YTs report system. (Which IIRC is a mix of automation and manually)

This *could* be a good merger, but I would have rather Google spend the $1 Billion for protecting Net Neutrality.

I prefer any company over Google to buy it. I lost respect to Googe with their new rules and enforcements. They force you to google+ your youtube account, and force you to combine all google products. They store your search data, basically everything you do with a google product is being used Against you. Fu*K Google, F*cK FaceBook! Twitch was the only entertainment I would watch when Bored, and now its going to shit